People between the ages of 15 and 24 are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. They account for a staggering 50% of all new HIV cases worldwide.  Across the globe, an estimated 10 million young people are living with HIV, and in some communities those under 20 already account for upwards of 20% of all such people.

Adolescent vulnerability to HIV is exacerbated by a number of factors.  These include:

• Lack of education about HIV and its prevention, and limited access to voluntary counseling and testing services
  
• Poverty and high rates of sexually transmitted infections in this age group
   
• Early marriage, which exposes young women and girls to infection through frequent unprotected sex within marriage, often with older men
   

Further compounding these factors are the starkly pronounced gender inequities amongst adolescents.  Gender norms in many cultures often prevent young girls from exercising autonomy.  As a consequence, young women in many parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, are infected more often and earlier in their lives than men. 

Current HIV prevention efforts, while important, aren’t likely to have a substantial impact on the AIDS pandemic—depending as they do on behavioral changes.  An HIV vaccine would be the most effective prevention tool for this age group in particular.

Because young people bear a large burden of this disease, it is imperative that they be involved in AIDS vaccine research and development. Engaging youth in the process, both as advocates and potentially as participants in trials, is the best way to ensure that they will have timely access to an effective vaccine once it becomes available.